I bought Love Sewing magazine and really like the idea of sewing the coat pattern B6423 which is included with it. . .
The design line of the J curve seams on that coat is an attractive feature and the reason why a friend made up this pattern. I helped her with the pattern fitting.
I urge you very strongly to do a toile forcthis particular pattern, or at the very least tissue fit the pattern before cutting into good fabric.
A toile would be a better try out choice because it's not just about the fit, in my view it's necessary to check whether the the style of the coat works with your proportions in a way that you find pleasing. Proportions in terms of both height and width.
On my friend's body shape the silhouette was 'a brick'.
My friend is 5'2 and RTW clothes size UK14-16 with a C/D cup. Her body shape is
a rounded hourglass tending toward pear shape.
Due to the fullness of the style and the loose fit of the styling, we decided to cut one size down from what the pattern indicated.
Also we adjusted the shaping of the shawl collar. It's very wide as in comes to just over the shoulder point. We took about 3 - 4cm off the edge at the back and over the shoulders to show a little bit of the shoulder. When the collar edge came to her shoulders the visual effect of the coat on a 5'2" person was a brick. with some shoulder showing it was a little better, but basically it still made her look like a brick.
On the pattern views, the drawn illustration in grey gives the best impression of the lack of shaping and indicates the 'relaxed' styling. Due to the style of this coat, for the proportions to work there needs to be a lot of leg length on view to balance out the width. It really is a style for taller people.
My friend's beautifully made coat with an (expensive) gorgeous lining was donated to a charity shop and someone, somewhere will have a brand new, unworn, excellent, well made coat.
It's a casual, unstructured style so choose your fabrics carefully.
If dipping a toe into making a coat, then to avoid disappointment, again I recommend anyone too double check carefully that the style will suit their body shape and please them before cutting into nice fabric.
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